arcbmwz3

With so many posts about "how to", how do you rate the reliability of your 928 on a scale of say 1 to 10 with 10 being no problems other than yearly standard maintenance.

hacker-pschorr

8-9

The "not counted" area also includes stuff I broke.

blown 87

It has not stopped on the road once.
But I have done far more than yearly maintenance.

tailpipe

In 11 years it only left me stranded once when the alt smoked its diods but it was the original alt so can't complain.

Mike B

I'm with Greg...but I replaced a TBF motor and I did ALL the maintenace at the time. A year and a half later not one concern.

bigs

Well, thus far I have significantly exceeded its purchase price in what I have invested to have those who are far more talented in mechanical matters than I am restore it to topnotch condition.

Having said that, it has never failed me. Not once.

Tails

Lets say a 9.

In over 10 year of ownership (now 20 yrs old) the brake downs are as follows:

1. Fuel Pump failure (small plastic piece jammed the impeller) on a 3000 klm trip just after I purchased the car 10 year ago. Flat bedded 150 klm and replaced pump myself.
2. Heater short hose at back of engine failed on the 3000 klm trip on way home, drove to a garage for repair. (spare now kept in spare tyre well).
3. Engine overheated in traffic and rain due to an air lock, my fault.
4. B2 Piston failure in auto box. (Vehicle towed home) Fitted MB modified B2 piston design.
5. Auto Pan gasket split in way of two centre securing bolts. Returned from 450klm trip and next moring large pool of ATF under rear of car. (Porsche sold me old design pan gasket, not updated version).
5. Return hose to PS reservoir blew off, PO not installed correctly. Drove home.
6. LH computer failure, I was able to drive home. (15 year failure of hybrid tile in ECU).

So from all the above only required to be assisted to get home twice in over 10 years.

Yearly maintenance and repairs as required done.

Tails 1990 928S4 Auto

Mike LaBranche

I've had my 84 10 years, put almost 250k miles on the beast, and it's been pretty darn reliable largely due to driving it virtually every day. I've put parts in it, sure... mostly consumables. 25 years old, ton of miles, driven hard and put up wet often, and I just got back from a 1500 mile round trip SanFran/Phoenix. Put gas in it and motored 12 hrs each way. I think most of the reliability issues are due to sitting for long periods, you gotta drive the **** out of 'em. Often.

Rick3452

(9) 13 years one blow-out, best car ever... 174.000 miles

the flyin' scotsman

9 years of ownership and never let me down until this spring.........70k kms

At 22YO I had speculated the LH or FP would fail...........one of them did and left me stranded.

Both are now replaced and the LH and EZK have PEMs installed............car is rockin' and will do more so when S.tuned

928 at last

About 20K miles over 2 seasons on an unknown quantity (did my own PPI). And one let down - fuel pump failure on a road trip last spring. Getting all the rest sorted out now. Really can't complain considering the lack of maintenance the car had had by the PO. Any equivalent vehicle would have cost several times what I paid, so, I'm still way ahead, and driving the car I wanted since about '83.

James-man

Excellent. I guess that would be a 10?

14.5 years and never needed a tow or emergency roadside anything. I had to do a flat tire in a Walmart parking lot once, and once left my parking lights on all day draining the battery, but that doesn't fall into the reliability bucket. I have had about 6 occasions where I'd turn the key and nothing happens, but I traced that to a sticky relay where now all I have to do is kick the passenger footwell and the car starts right up. I'll replace that someday - probably should have replaced after the first instance but I have something like 8 years of driving since that first occasion.

Mandatory: drive at least once per week. Keeps battery charged and things lubricated. Not a bad obligation huh?

Door handle broke once. Could still open from the inside. ABS system went out once (still driveable for several months) but it fixed itself after some wires in the spare tire well were accidentally bumped.

My car isn't perfect, but very reliable.

Brian B

For my OB, its a 10. Never has left me stranded in 8 years of ownership.

JPTL

If reliability means starting every time and never leaving me stranded, a solid 10.
From a standpoint of little things here and there needing attention, like airbag sensor needing cleaning, going into limp home mode because of a chafed coil wire or hatch latch release needing adjustment, it gets a 9.
Admittedly this is a garage queen that doesn't have to withstand the elements, but for a 19 year old car, it's pretty damn reliable.

Marine Blue

I give the two I've had a 7 and 8.

The reason you see so many how to's is that we are all striving to improve our cars, no one really bothers to do that with a Toyota, Honda, Hyundai etc. Once these every day cars have served 10 years 200K miles you they ready to be tossed, not restored.